To mark the start of Learning Disability Awareness Week, we are sharing the story of a service user who is now employed in one of our teams, dispelling the myth that people with learning disabilities may not be employable.
Hope Tagimuri, 22, from Barrow, wants to let others know what it’s like living with a learning disability and how working with us as a peer support worker in the Learning Disability Service has helped her gain confidence.
Peer support workers use their own lived experience to support others.
Jennifer Yates, Nurse practitioner Learning Disability Service at LSCft said:
“This week is an opportunity to shine a light on the conditions that people are living with and address some misconceptions about what people with a learning disability can do. Our service user, Hope, is a great example of someone who has achieved so much, never letting her disability hold her back.”
Hope said:
“I really enjoy my job, I work with lovely people. I can’t believe I’ve been in this role for nearly two years.
I do different tasks such as laminating, printing, attending meetings, devising posters and a kitchen rota and help check panic alarms when they need checking. I designed a hand hygiene poster which was greatly received and I was presented with a certificate and a voucher. I have also supported staff both clinical and administrative staff with Makaton training.”
Hope, who supports Makaton training throughout the Trust - a unique language programme that uses symbols, signs and speech - has turned her life around with support from family and friends. She currently works 22 and a half hours per week in Barrow, alongside her mum so they can travel to work together.
Kay Lynas, Operational Project Lead for the LSCft Community Learning Disability Service continued:
“Hope came straight from college, she did a lovely presentation to her peers on how she got the role. She did a thank you post on Facebook about how it had all changed her life. She is a wonderful peer support worker and fits into the team so well.”
Hope’s goals for the future are to keep safe and well and to go on more holidays. She wants to continue providing advice and support in his role as a peer support worker, so she can share with colleagues what it’s like to live with a learning disability.
Hope concluded:
“I am currently happy in my job but strive to learn and do more to support the staff I work with.”
Learning Disability Awareness Week runs from 19 to 23 June and is dedicated to talking about, educating and spreading awareness. This year’s theme is myth busting.
Jennifer Yates, Nurse practitioner in the Learning Disability Service at LSCft added:
“It is apt that this year’s theme is myth busting as some people may assume that a learning disability can be limiting, however Hope’s experience shows quite the contrary; people with learning disabilities can go on to live independently, gain employment, make a contribution to their community, socialise and play a part in their family’s and friends’ lives. She is quite literally showing people there is hope!
With the right support, we try and inspire people to set and reach their goals, doing the things many people take for granted so they can reach their potential.”
For more on learning disabilities and the support offered by our services, click here.
According to UK charity MENCAP and the Office for National Statistics, there are more than 1.5 million people in the UK who have a diagnosed learning disability.
